Priming Self and Close Others’ Victimization Experiences: Results from a Laboratory Experiment

• In Event: The Influence of Social Contexts on Victimization and Criminal Experiences

Abstract

Drawing from social psychological theories of social identity, self-categorization, and implicit social cognition, the present research is a follow-up to the authors’ previous two studies investigating “victim” as a social identity. Utilizing a Single-Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), we examine the effects of two victimization salience manipulations (direct vs. vicarious) on participants’ implicit victim identity. Undergraduate student participants (N=201) were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: 1) a treatment condition which included a priming manipulation of direct violent victimization experience, 2) a treatment condition which included a priming manipulation of vicarious violent victimization experience, or 3) a control condition. We expect that writing about a direct victimization, but not a vicarious victimization (or no writing task), will strengthen the association between self and victim both implicitly and explicitly. Analyses of variance are employed to examine the relations between the priming manipulations and implicit and explicit victim identity. The study also considers counseling history, court involvement, and criminal experience, and the impact they may have on the relation between priming and activation of a victim identity. This research has implications for the factors and processes underlying revictimization, as well as establishing effective interventions among victims of violence.

Authors

• Nicole Marie Sachs, Fairleigh Dickinson University

• Bonita Veysey, Rutgers University

• Luis Rivera, Rutgers University